The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1887-11-29
BILL ARP.
He Says the Negro is Still a Gu
riosity.
ABOUT THE OLD TOWNS OF ALABAMA

our SlSucT ana our daughter, 100. Sne is q M
tie stuck up around Birmingham and Annis-
ton and Decatur, and carries her nose in the
air just like some children lord it over the old
folks and make them take back seat. But
found the old settlers down in the canebrake
region very flial and affectionate. The peo-
pie have changed less by emigration and i'm
migration than any region have visited. The
| old standard towns Of Selma and Demopolis
and Uniontown and Greensboro and Marion
and Eutaw and Livingston are still solid and
sure, for they have health and climate and q
vast area of black land TO back them They
arc proud Of the new cities that are develop
ing their mineral wealth, but there is a
shadow Of regret that these new towns
! are enticing their best men away. Many
| OF the most progressive citizens in all
these towns have moved to Birmingham
and Admission, and have carried their money
and their brains with them. The best law
| Yers and doctors and merchants and the best
| preachers have gone. Where the carcass is
! there will the eagles be gathered together, and
| tho eagle you know is the great American bird
! that is stamped upon money and follows it
! about.
The country is tho nursery OF the towns.
and the towns are the nurseries of our cities,
1T is just so everywhere. When a
farmer gets rich enough TO go to
town lie goes for the town has
good schools and churches and society. When
q town merchant gets n little ahead he gets
ambitious, and wants to get rich with more
alacrity. lie becomes little uppity and bigity.
and 50 moves to the city. just so with lawyers
and doctors, and even the preachers are not
proof against high salaries and beautiful
churches. We needn't talk about the
negroes going to town. White folks
love to 20 to town too Some of them 20 to
educate their children, but good many 90
like the father goes 10 the circus Just to please
tho children. The town is a fair compromise
between the city and the country. 1t is not so
good as the country, but q good deal better
than the city. | wouldent live in city. l
wouldcnt live in Atlanta or Birmingham if l
could help it. Why my folks can't keep up
with the visiting right here in Gainesville.
They are away behind in their calls They have
tokeep list just like keeping a muster roll. tt
Keeps them trotting half the time. They talk
about calls just like we talk about debts and
attach about the same importance to them.
They delight TO have folks come to see them,
for it tlattcrs their consequence. / love to sit
by and hear them talk over their calls and tell
what Mrs. A said and Mrs. j said and the
mother-in-law and the old grandmother, and
how the children behaved, and they can tell
more innocent news than / thought was in the
town. That is all right That is social pleasure,
and we are all social beings. But in city it is
impossible for folks TO keep up with so many
visitors, and so they Ehave to classify into
sets, and these sets try to draw the lines Of de-
marcation. but they cant do it exactly, and so
they doVetail into one another in spite of all
they can do Women are very peculiar about
this set busness-these social distinctions
Money is generally at the bottom of it--a big
pile of noney-but money is frequently Set-off
by culture and style. A rich family without
culture ranks pretty well with a poor family
with culture, The trouble is that this keeps
the poor family on a strain to keep into line,
and do think that the rich folks ought 10
give boot and help these poor folks ont, for
rich scrub is not equal to poor thoroughbred.
Folks who have nothing else to think about
are very jealous of this oStracism of the
sets. Even poor folks with no culture at all
are affected by il. Once upon a time
DR.. FELTON, sent some garden seed
from Washington to my poor nabor
Mrs. Williams but didn't send any TO Mrs.
Jones, and il made Mrs. Jones mad with Mrs.
| Williams and the doctor too, and she said to
my wife, ''Dr. FELTON, tux and SAINT passed. of
garding seed!to Betsy Ann Williams, but he
never sent me any and Fin jest as good as
Betsy Ann Williams. Dick shant vote for
him nary mother time-that he sbant" And
Dick didn't A candidate must always send
seed TO succeed.
These Alabama towns are prospering and
have good schools and churches, and good So
ciety. Nobody lives in the country except the
negroes The black land region is black with
them all the week except Saturday, and then
they 90 to town and paint the town black
] arrived in Eutaw one Saturday evening and
could hardly get through for the negroes, and
was told it wasn't very good Saturday for
them either. They were all in a good humor
and as happy rs possible If they brought anv
money they spent it. If they had any credit
they used it. If they had neither they came
ANYHOW just to have good time.
They have got new kind Of religion down
there now, and it is spreading fast 1t is
scripture that says, feed my sheep" An old
preacher darly takes basket OF shelled corn
ON his arm and goes out behind Il big tree in
the woods and begins to call his sheep. You
can hear him half a mile away saying, "Co-
sheep. co-Sheep, co-sheep," and by and by the
darlies begin to come from the neighboring
woods, where they have been hiding. and they
come blating and crying, "baa- baa-baa,'
and some comes on their all-fours, and they
cut up all sorts of capers, and the Young rams
fall over one another and butt their heads to-
gether, and still they come and cry 'baa--baa,"
and each one goes up to the old
darby and gets grain of
corn and goes away with another
baa and takes roulGance, and after a while
comes back again for another grain of corn,
and so on, and so on all the day. They are all
black sheep, and remind one Of the old song
"Ba-a, ba-o, black sheep, got any wool"
The negro is still q curiosty--an unsolved
problem. Judge Webb of Eutaw, an elegant
old gentleman of leisure and observation, told
me that negro was tried in their court for
larceny after trust Two boxes of tobacco
were entrusted TO him to be hauled some dis
tance and be delivered TO the purchaser He
arrived at his destination with only one box
and could not account for the other eXcept by
saying that another negro rode with him on
the wagon n part of the way and he didn't
know when he got off. He seemed greatly
troubled about it, and offered TO work it out
but, nevertheless, he was indicted and ar
raigned for trial. The case was
fully proved against him. and there
seemed escape from conviction, but a
kind hearted lawyer volunteered to defend
him. and said in substance: Gentlemen of
the jury, this negro did not steal that tobacco,
nor was he knowing or willing to its disap-
pearmce. l have been raised with negroes.
My first cry was in my black mammy's arms,
and from my early youth until now have
been an observer Of the Negroes character, and
lhdye yet TO learn of single case whore the
negro was guilty of a breach Of trust. He will
lie and he will steal, but put it TO you now in
/ all seriousness didyou ever entrust anything to
him and he failed 10 take care of il and deliver
| il ii he could? Never l put this question to
/ his honor on the bench, and to this bar and to
/ these bystanderS, did you ever know of a case
! where a negro betrayed a trust o.
| Then he rehcarSCd his faithfunesS during
/ the war-and how when his master was far
4 away on the tented field he stood by
! the wife and the children. and was
| their friend and protector. lie said the negro
/ had some bad traits and bad passions, but he